Cremona welcomes WorldSBK with Lowes fastest on Day 1

WorldSBK Free Practices

The Cremona Circuit became the 53rd venue for WorldSBK and the seventh different Italian venue to host the series.

After overnight rain the opening day of action was one of contrasts. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) led the way in damp conditions before twin brother Alex (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) holding the advantage in FP2.

Championship contender Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was third fastest having completed 22 laps across both sessions. The Ducati rider is 55 points behind the championship standings so has the chance to leave Italy as the championship leader before the Aragon Round next weekend.

With championship leader Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) sidelined through injury it was Garrett Gerloff who ended the day as the fastest BMW rider. The Bonovo Action BMW rider crashed at Turn 7 during the early laps of FP2 but was fast throughout the 45 minute session. He ended the day one hundredth of a second faster than his teammate, Scott Redding, with Michael van der Mark tenth fastest following a crash in FP2.

Tito Rabat (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) completed 32 laps during the 90 minutes of track action. The Spaniard ended the day fourth fastest but his best lap of the day was deleted for yellow flag infringements. His fastest time would have left him second fastest.

Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) was second fastest but an on track clash with Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) left both riders penalised three grid positions by the FIM Stewards.

Yamaha unveiled their newly homologated YZF-R1 at Cremona. The new bike, complete with aerodynamic wings, was given its on track debut with Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) ending the day 13th fastest.

P1 | Alex Lowes | Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK

“Honestly, I want to say congratulations to the circuit because they’ve done a fantastic job with all the work they’ve put in. It feels like a completely different circuit. They’ve improved the run-off in a few areas and the new grandstands around the track are great. I hope we can see a lot of fans filling those grandstands this weekend. Today was a positive day. We missed most of the first session due to the damp conditions. In the afternoon, in the dry, I was able to find my rhythm quickly and try a couple of the tyres we had from Pirelli. Overall, it was quite positive. I feel like my race pace should be okay. It’s the very first session of the weekend, and everybody will improve a lot. We don’t know this track that well, but I’m usually able to get down to competitive lap times quite quickly. I have a very good team; they really understand what I need from the bike, and I’m sure we can improve further for tomorrow. So, I expect to be strong.”

P2 | Danilo Petrucci | Barni Spark Racing Team

“It’s good to be here. There are already a lot of fans which is really great. I’m really happy about today. It’s quite a difficult track and today was my first time on a superbike here. I found myself in good shape, and the seating position on the bike feels pretty good. I started with a positive feeling. In the afternoon session compared the two race tyres. I think it will be really tough. Alex Lowes is a little faster than us, but we’ll try to stay close and aim for the win in this race.”P3 | Nicolo Bulega | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati

“I didn’t have a very good feeling on the bike today. I think my riding style isn’t suited to this circuit. I need to adapt because I have to do something different at this track. We have to work hard because we need to overcome some problems. I hope that tomorrow we can make some changes and have a better feeling from the start. I didn’t feel comfortable on the bike so it’s difficult to push. I feel like I’m at 80% but we have the potential to be much faster. I’m not thinking about the Championship right now. I just want to take it race by race, fight for the podium in every race, and then we’ll see where we are by the last race of the season.”

P4 | Tito Rabat | Kawasaki Puccetti Racing

“This was my best performance in practice during a race weekend. It’s a new track for us but we were able to test here three months ago. We’re in the same situation as the rest of the riders. The track is narrow and the camber works well for me. As a private team, we’re trying to adapt quickly. My crew chief and electronic engineer are working hard to understand all the information from Kawasaki. I’m trying to operate like an official team and get some help to make the step forward that the factory guys will make tomorrow.”

WorldSBK Combined Results after FP2

1. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 1’29.685s

2. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) +0.081s

3. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.151s

4. Tito Rabat (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) +0.291s

5. Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven) +0.331s

6. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.335s

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